Sferogyls by Mit Sandru

Evil empire attacks a peaceful planet. Fight or be enslaved.
On Earth, Tim Andrus was a science-fiction writer, who, after dying, had his head preserved cryogenically – just in case he’ll get a second chance to live again. He was resurrected, not by doctors but by gods. To his surprise he’s not a mere mortal, but a god himself and his god-name is Timurud.
Unfortunately, the life of a god is not all heavenly. Timurud, the god, must protect the good against the evil, the weak and powerless civilizations against ferocious galactic empires. Once he was a human, but now as a god he lives in the galactic realm of thousands of habitable planets, populated by as many species of aliens, with spaceships traveling at near the speed light by warping the fabric of space, or even faster than the light-speed when traveling through the Dark Universe. The galactic empires have at their disposal superior technological knowledge and enforce their dominance with planet-killer battleships, space troops, armored attack forces, proton and laser cannons.
Timurud’s first mission is to defend the peaceful Sferogyl people against the Maggotroll Empire, warlike hominids who are determined to enslave the Sferogyls and capture their planet. Timurud is not allowed to fight in space battles, but he can help the Sferogyls prepare to defend themselves. Trouble is, the Sferogyls don’t have any spaceships or armies, and only a short time to build up their defenses. They are vulnerable to any attack from space and their only hope is Timurud.
Even if Timurud is a god, will he be able to help the peaceful and unarmed Sferogyls get ready to defend themselves against the evil Maggotroll Empire?

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
“Sferogyls” is the title of the first book in the Timurud Sci-Fi Series –a space opera, superhero, hard science fiction, galactic empires and mega space-battle stories. The superhero, Timurud, is a galactic god who helps the underdog against the galaxy’s villains.
In the first book the Sferogyls are sapient creatures, bipeds, hard-shell bodies, resembling balls. Lovable balls who are peaceful, unarmed and defenseless. And easy prey for the evil Maggotroll Empire. This is a David vs Goliath battle, and Timurud will help the Sferogyls defend their planet and their freedom.

How Did You Come up With Your Characters?
The superhero, Timurud, is a galactic god who once was a man on Earth, died and the gods resurrected him to fight against evil. Although a god, he cannot fight or defend imperial battleships by himself and must rely on his acumen to overcome all the obstacles.
The Sferogyls are galactic, sentient creatures who evolved from snails. They have four limbs and built their cities in giant caves on planet Nisip. They are highly intelligent and communicate through whistling.

Book Sample
The deep space sensors identified the enemy armada trailing Nisip in orbit around the sun. It was composed, as we knew, of the four transport-cargo ships and one battleship-carrier, Mangle. The twelve frigates were deployed, making the entire fleet look foreboding. They were decelerating quickly, and their speed matched Nisip’s when their position reached 200,000 kilometers from the planet. An hour later, the armada split into four battle groups. Four frigates escorted each of the three transporters. Surprisingly, one transporter did not have any frigates as an escort. The four battle groups moved toward Nisip.
The ETA was three hours at their current speed. As they got closer, the transport ship battle groups approached Nisip from four directions, each heading eventually toward one of the major cities on Nisip: Tandalo, Marjon, Dengholan, and Sferogug, as expected. It was curious that Mangle, with all its firepower, was farther away from Nisip, behind the invading transporters. Common logic would say that the heavy hitter would be the first to clear away any opposition. But that wasn’t the case here.
“What’s their strategy? What are they doing?” General Razvij called from Dengholan.
“We planned for this scenario,” General Kland replied. “But with Mangle or the frigates in front. Any ideas why they’re deploying the transporters first?”
“They’re exposing their weak front, the transporters, to draw fire from us,” I said. “Since they haven’t detected any warships opposing them, they’re suspicious of ground fire.”
“Our proton cannons are standing by,” said General Sarmal l’Sfero.
“Stand by until the fire order is given,” said General Kland.
Our super proton cannons were waiting patiently. All we could do at this time was watch tensely as the enemy ships approached Nisip, soon to be within shooting range.
Suddenly, the silence was broken by a transmission on all channels from the Maggotrolls:
“Attention, all Sferogyls. This is the warship Mangle, part of the Maggotroll assimilation force. The Maggotroll Empire has decided to assimilate Nisip and all its population. There is no need for alarm. You’ll be treated gently. Do not resist or fight our expeditionary forces that will descend on your planet shortly. Should you resist and fight us, there will be dire consequences for your actions. Your leaders’ response is demanded within one hour, starting from now. The lack of a response will be considered an act of resistance and therefore cause for immediate attack. You have sixty minutes.”
I thought bitterly: They didn’t say ‘Resistance is futile,’ as the Borg said in the Star Trek series. Oh well, that was a different part of the galaxy, I guess. The message continued repeating at five-minute intervals, in case we didn’t get it the first time, while the countdown decreased accordingly. I wondered what the Mangle’s captain and his staff was thinking, observing the quiet and non-responsive planet below. Their monitoring showed everything was normal up to their second message. But with fifty minutes to go, a storm of communications erupted on Nisip. Soon after, ground transporters and trails of dust radiated out of every major city. The Sferogyls gave the impression of fleeing in panic. In reality, the civilian populations of all the major cities were sheltered deep underground. Only military and emergency teams were left in the cities.
…
The last transmission from Mangle ended and the time clicked to zero, but General Kland held the fire order. The three transporter groups and the escort frigates began descending into Nisip’s upper atmosphere, with their bows pointing down toward the ground. They should assume a horizontal position after they entered the atmosphere. Not all the transporters entered the atmosphere at the same time. The fourth transporter lagged behind and stopped above the upper atmosphere, hovering over the capital. Mangle came by the side of this transporter to provide support. That was a problem. Under Mangle’s protection, that transporter was safer from our destructive firepower. But that’s what war was all about: chance, confusion, opportunity, and unpredictability.
“Attention, all zones. Aim at the transporters. Fire!” ordered General Kland.
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